NY Times: Bernie Sanders to Cut Hundreds of Staff Members and Turn to California

[Stand and Fight]

Last edited Wed Apr 27, 2016, 05:24 PM - Edit history (1)

It seems that despite all of the heavy talk about continuing the fight, the Sanders campaign is reducing the size of its army. Interesting...

Bernie Sanders to Cut Hundreds of Staff Members and Turn to California

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Senator Bernie Sanders is planning to lay off “hundreds” of campaign staffers across the country and focus much of his remaining effort on winning California, he said in an interview Wednesday.

The Vermont senator revealed the changes a day after losing four of the five states that voted Tuesday and falling further behind Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Despite the changes, Mr. Sanders said he would remain in the race through the party’s summer convention and stressed that he hoped to bring staff members back on board if his political fortunes improved.

“We want to win as many delegates as we can, so we do not need workers now in states around country,” Mr. Sanders said in the interview. “We don’t need people right now in Connecticut. That election is over. We don’t need them in Maryland. So what we are going to do is allocate our resources to the 14 contests that remain, and that means that we are going to be cutting back on staff.”

When asked how many people would be let go, Mr. Sanders didn’t give an exact number but did say many people would be affected.

MORE AT LINK

[savalez]

1. Donations slowing?

[MADem]

4. His money in/money out ratio was pretty daunting. As quick as he got it, "TAD" spent it on

ineffective media buys (commercials, of course, produced "in house" at HIS company at a cost of MILLIONS--who realistically thinks that Simon and Garfunkle thing of crowds and music cost a million bucks to make? I've seen jazzier stuff slapped up on Youtube by eighth graders...! ) and of course, he's making a hefty salary on top of that.

If Bernie wants to make his money last through the CA primary, he should fire that Tad grifter!

[savalez]

44. I haven't seen that spot but...

a million bucks for a commercial? wtf? Really? Sounds like bernie got played.

[MADem]

52. Apparently old Tad knows where the money is.

If he's getting a cut of all the ad buys (on top of the ads that are made by his firms) those costs are in the tens of millions of dollars--he's making some scratch.

Tad Devine, a senior advisor on the Sanders campaign, told Yahoo that his firm, Devine Mulvey Longabaugh, crafted the ad.

The Democratic ad maker, who talked to Yahoo, gave the commercial rave reviews.

“I think it’s beautiful. I’m a sucker for a well-scored spot, and when you’ve got permission to use a stirring track like ‘America,’ you’re off on the right foot,” he said.

Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon are not listed among the celebrities who have endorsed Sanders. Spokespeople for the Sanders campaign told CNN that the song “was properly licensed.” Garfunkel and representatives for Simon did not respond to requests from Yahoo about whether they personally approved the use of their song and would be backing Sanders.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bernie-sanders-releases-beautiful-new-ad-182155752.html

Fox New's Power Player of the Week, old Tad was!
http://dmlmessage.com/news/

TAD DEVINE: POWER PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Named Fox News’ “Power Player of the Week,” Tad Devine sat down with Chris Wallace to discuss the striking successes of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 White House run.

[MADem]

2. It's over. The trick is to let people down gently. nt

[FloridaBlues]

6. Guess he will live now in Oregon and California

Till the convention? Why so the dem party can get dictated to on what platform to adopt? wonder if he will continue to out spend by 2 to 1 from now on...save his money and help with down ballot dems

[savalez]

7. I am in CA and....

my Sister is in OR.

We are voting for HRC.

[Walk away]

39. Stop bragging about being smart and sane and having a normal family!!!

Poor West Coast Bernie supporters are feeling shitty enough.

[savalez]

41. Who you callin' normal!

[Walk away]

42. Hey! Compared to a Sanders' Follower, you and your entire family are as normal as Blueberry Pie!

So don't try to act nutz to me!

[MADem]

17. He has fired "hundreds." He's pulling in his resources.

He could probably keep most of them on if he got rid of Million Dollar Tad. That guy is a great sucking sound--the biggest line item in Sanders' FEC filings.

[Stand and Fight]

21. It would probably also help if he stopped spending so much on ads, busses, etc.

He spends all of this money in big states only to wind up losing anyhow. WTF is the point?

[MADem]

26. I think the point is "Tad Devine." This is the "Betterment of Tad's Financial Health Show" at this

point in time, I suspect.

Sanders has been getting all sorts of horrible advice from that guy--that guy spent a fortune of Bernie's Donation Money crafting ads for the NY market....and where did he craft those ads? At HIS OWN Media firm! Nothing suspicious there, eh?

Sanders spent over nine bucks per voter to LOSE his "home state" of NY. NINE BUCKS--that's Romney territory. Clinton spent three, and that, I thought, was a goodly amount until I saw how much Sanders blew.

[Stand and Fight]

31. Agreed.

It takes on a humorous tone when you consider he talks about getting money out of politics all the while putting more money into politics!

[dubyadiprecession]

3. Scaling down you campaign is no way to....

win the nomination. BS what happened to your momentum?

[stopbush]

9. He's got "no-mentum!"

[NurseJackie]

18. Snort!

[misterhighwasted]

23. LMAO!!

no-mentum

[tonyt53]

5. Yep, and look where he held that rally when he made that statement

Another reason that Bernie does not have that "broad" appeal to Democrats - his rallies are all at college campuses. Colleges are having finals and the crowds will be gone. Come this fall, those Bernie supporters will have forgotten who he is.

[MADem]

19. Colleges also have students who vote in other states, students who are foreign, students who don't

vote at all, students who are UNREGISTERED (and he squandered opportunity after opportunity to get those people registered--it would have taken only a couple of dozen volunteers to work those crowds while they were waiting in line, and give them the material to register....but he didn't do that).

Very odd, that. No attention to critical detail. He never got them to commit, to sign on the bottom line. Quixotic approach, certainly. He's reaping the results.

[Gomez163]

8. I thought he was surging. I misheard. He's a sturgeon.

[Kaleva]

12. Lol!

[pandr32]

14. Too funny!

[misterhighwasted]

25. haaaha

[yallerdawg]

10. It is done.

I guess we just let them dog Hillary everywhere else on DU until...whatever.

[msongs]

11. what happened to full employment and job security? nt

[Gomez163]

15. They need to jump ship to Hillary. I'm sure she is hiring.

[Walk away]

40. I am sure they will!

[beachbum bob]

13. End is near

[Maru Kitteh]

16. K & R

The slow walk begins.

[misterhighwasted]

20. And just a few weeks ago his entorage dined on lobster, on a private plane to see the Pope.

$600,000? Isn'that what some of that PR trip cost?
Or the $16 million spent to silence & censor all social media speech promoting Hillary Clinton.
The full blown campaign of hate & juvenile bullying that was given a green light by Sanders himself, & his surrogates doing the same thing online and at rallys & caucauses, doomed any idea of revolution or statement he may have began with.
People were repulsed by the style of his campaign bullys.
So his campaign & message now limps to a sorry but well deserved finish because of the assinine behavior he endorsed.

It has all backfired. Landed with a thud, along with his extreme overspending in State to State TV ads that he also lost to Hillary in the end.
Hope they saved a chunk of change for the FEC, because their answers are due in a couple weeks.

His was a piss-poor display of how to create a worthy revolution.
Unf'king believable.

[Stand and Fight]

24. You've got that right! That's one story that I don't get is missing from the media...

How is it that having millions and millions of dollars in campaign money unaccounted for NOT being reported? I mean, if we believe the Sanders people the media has been awfully cruel to his campaign, yet not one MSM outlet has picked up on this huge story.

[MADem]

36. He probably could have kept his staff on for another month or two if he hadn't wasted money

on that trip.

[Stand and Fight]

22. This also points to a lack of management w/ campaign finances...

Did the campaign not budget for the states ahead? Did they not anticipate the need to have money left over to fight in California? I don't believe they're keeping their powder dry either. They're shuttering the store, but haven't told the supporters as much. Let the dream, however delusional, continue for a while longer. Another $27 here and there...

[sufrommich]

28. I have a feeling they are already seeing a downward

trend in donations,which will only get worse. They'll be lucky to make it to CA.,especially if the plan is to spend on big rallies again.

[Stand and Fight]

29. Likely so... I always stop giving when it seems my candidate of choice is going to lose.

Meanwhile in this election, I'm $600 from the cap for Hillary. Going all in because #ShesWithUs & #ImWithHer. Got another $5400 lined up from my wife and I come the general.

[sufrommich]

32. I give to her monthly,but it's not a big amount.

But I hear you,it's painful to stop that monthly contribution when you realize all is lost.

[Stand and Fight]

35. I would seriously advise anyone at this point to stop giving to his campaign.

He'll get plenty of media exposure, lots of interviews, a book deal, etc. Bernie is going to be set after this. People should keep their money though.

[Kaleva]

38. That's my guess too.

[KitSileya]

56. It is very obvious that he doesn't want to actually talk to voters.

He doesn't do the meet&greets, the diners and social centers and churches and mosques and temples. The one time he tried, was it in South Carolina? He bombed awfully. But it is through talking with ordinary voters that you find out what *they* think is the problem, and the solutions to them. The BS supporters, knowing that their candidate is incapable of actually talking to voters instead of lecturing them (what we call 'splaining these days) have taken to calling direct contact with voters for "pandering". The rest of us call it the political ideal. It is what we *want* politicians to do - to listen to the people. ANd Hillary CLinton does it better than anyone. And that is why she's winning.

Oh, and yeah, it's much cheaper - and a way to subvert Citizens United while she's at it!

[kerry-is-my-prez]

46. The sane people in the campaign know it's over. He just wants an excuse to stay in for media attn

n/t

[Stand and Fight]

54. And fat $27 donations!

[NastyRiffraff]

27. This is almost always the first indication

that a campaign is about it close its doors...er, "suspend the campaign."

[kennetha]

30. I think Bernie focused too much on big rallies

that cost him lots of money, lots of advance work, and yielded not enough votes.

Plus, the local media spin off of these rallies must have been marginal. Cause he would say the same thing again and again to the same sorts of people in the same sort of venue. If you've covered one, you've covered them all.

Clinton, on the hand, did a wide variety of different sorts of small scale events, that enable her to talk to different sorts of people, with different sorts of concerns.

Each day you do that, you can get yourself some free media that enables you to stress a different aspect of your over all message.

[Stand and Fight]

33. It's also more personal interaction with voters doing smaller events.

People really get to interact with Hillary. A little hard to interact with anyone when there's thousands screaming the whole time. It humanizes her and makes her real, and I think that spreads a heck of a lot faster via word of mouth than, "Oh, I went to a big Sanders rally!"

[sufrommich]

34. I never understood the large rallies once he

started actually succeeding as a serious candidate. It's like they didn't understand how to pivot to a serious campaign because they didn't expect to get that far.

[Koinos]

37. Big rallies don't seem to be generating votes for Bernie.

You would think he would have learned that by now. Yet he is planning many big rallies in California.

It's fun to attend a big rally, but it requires a bit more effort and discipline to register and vote.

Also, college students will be finishing classes and heading home before the California primary.

[Walk away]

43. I'm pretty sure that every college student in CA know who he is by now...

What is the point of having a rally to say the same stupid crap you have been saying for months to people who have already gotten your message?

[Koinos]

45. His campaign doesn't seem to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

48. He wants to stay in until the convention. They know damn well there is NO chance. Unless they are

really totally crazy.

[Koinos]

49. At this point, they are driven by emotion, not reason.

[wysi]

47. If people got to meet and talk with him...

... they'd probably figure out why his Senate colleagues don't seem to think much of him.

[Koinos]

50. I wouldn't want to have a beer with him.

[wysi]

51. I'd probably rather have a beer with Shrub

At least he wouldn't harangue me.

[Koinos]

53. Being with someone who is habitually angry is very tiring.

[oasis]

55. The party's over. nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

57. Will this mean less posting by paid staffers here at DU? If so, I can't find a downside. n/t